I am lost. This is the first time trying to set up a wireless using linux. I am into ceni my router is set up for WPA it is managed. The ESSID is the name of the router I gave it and I have it hidden. From there I am lost. ceni asks for the network BSSID I think it is supposed to look like **:**:**:**:**:**, but I do not know how to get the alphanumeric digits that are supposed to go there. I also have no clue what the Preshared key is about.
When I set up the wireless router a couple of years ago I looked it up as hard as I could. I do know that Windows has a hard time finding it. Because of the length of time I do not remember anything I did now.

I would suggest to start with a non-hidden ESSID for now, given that you can't really hide it anyways (just put a sign around your pink elephant's neck, telling "nothing to see here"). WPA2/ CCMP is a security measure, hidden ESSIDs are not, as any tool can easily see the ESSID from generated trafic anyways. If you really want hidden ESSIDs for weird reasons, /usr/share/doc/wpasupplicant/ has some further information (ap_scan).

I am really lost now. My wireless router is I believe WPA2 with a strong pass phrase. The problem I need to resolve, is to how to set up my network connection. I am trying to run ceni and I was trying to fill in the blanks it provides but it is not working. Is there another way I am supposed to do it.
I guess I got confused as to what the blanks were meaning. The difficulty for detection in the first place is that the network itself is hidden and needs the network name to be found.

As far as I remind, ceni offers "scan" and "skip".
So skip the step, fill in your Essid and the passphrase of your router.

Easiest way is to follow slh's proposal and unhide the essid in your router (connect it by a network cable to your PC and enter the admin interface as per router documentation). Than you see your essid and administration is more easy/trustful/.